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Trinity River

Published September 26, 2007
When Texas bought the large tract of land in Anderson County they also bought a small tract, about 600 acres in Freestone County, for the iron ore deposits to be used on roads and a low water crossing was made on the Trinity River to cut the hauling distance to Coffield. That’s another story that will come later.
Coffield was named for a generous citizen, I think, from Milam County, who was a strong supporter of Texas Department of Corrections (TDC). The land in Freestone County had served as an entrance to the river by the public since the earliest days of Freestone County.
The area known as Tyus Bluff and Board Pile was in this. It also included the old Tyus Cemetery – which created another problem – the public and friend, Bill Tyus, of Teague, was opposed to all of this being closed to the public.

Last week I wrote about the community of Troy/Pine Bluff located on the west bank of the Trinity River in Freestone County. This inland port played a very important role in the progress of growth for several counties located westward from the town, especially Freestone, Navarro and Limestone but other communities farther to the north and northwest.
Most of the time, steamboats could go as far upriver as Troy but any other shipping points farther upstream were very limited depending on the water table within the river channel. Since the boats could reach Troy/Pine Bluff, a lot of cargo going in either direction was either received or shipped from Troy.